Left is Samra Kesinovic, 16, who is thought to have fled to Syria to join the Islamic State. On the right is 15-year-old Sabina Selimovic who went with her
Samra Kesinovic and Sabina Selimovic in a photo they posted online. Police now fear the two are inspiring other girls to flee to Syria to take up holy war
Police fear two young girls who fled Austria are inspiring other teenagers to join Islamic State ranks after they successfully fled the country saying they were going to Syria.
Samra Kesinovic was aged just 16 and her friend Sabina Selimovic 15 when the two vanished this year from their homes in the Austrian capital Vienna.
Soon afterwards they posted images of themselves branding Kalashnikov rifles, and in some cases surrounded by armed men.
Now police have raised concerns they are inspiring their contemporaries after two other teenage girls were caught attempting to flee the country to join ISIS ranks.
Austrian media warned several weeks ago that the girls had become the public face for the call to jihad.
These fears now appear to have been validated with the Austrian Interior Ministry confirming two other girls from Vienna had attempted to flee to take up the call for holy war.
Police are now hoping to find out how they became radicalised, and whether anybody had helped them plan their trip to Syria which was apparently set to take place via Turkey - following the same route as the other two girls.
The pair were caught when the mother of a third friend who was supposed to be travelling with them became suspicious about the amount of luggage her daughter was packing.
Samra Kesinovic and Sabina Selimovic in another photo they posted online, sometime after they fled Austria
Sabina, pictured beside jihadists wielding Kalashnikov rifles, somewhere in Syria or Iraq
It's not known if they group were in contact with Samra and Selimovic, who - despite the fact they are being hunted by Interpol - have remained missing.
However, social media updates posted by the two show them dressed in traditional Muslim clothing and in some instances, standing beside men holding guns.
As many as 130 people from Austria are now believed to be fighting as jihadists abroad.
More than half of Austrian's jihadists originally come from the Caucasus region and have a valid residence permit in Austria.
Meanwhile, two Salafists were intercepted in a German border town on the way to Syria via Austria.
Austrian Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Marakovits said they were noticing an increasing problem with youngsters wanting to leave the country for the same reason.
He said: 'If we can catch them before they leave we have the chance to work with their parents and other institutions to bring the youngsters out of the sphere of influence that prompted them to act in this way the first place.
'Once they have left the country, even if they then changed their minds, it is then almost impossible to get them back.'
